The Thohoyandou Victim Empowerment Programme (TVEP) welcomed a very active blogger and campaigner for human rights, Eleonora Tomassi, on 24 April.
Eleonora is a representative of the European Union (EU), which funded the TVEP's Zero Tolerance Village and School Alliance – an intervention conceptualised and developed by the TVEP. The project is being implemented in Madombidzha village in the Sinthumule area and Midoroni village in the Kutama area.
Eleonora is representing the Faces2Hearts Campaign. Her visit aims to bring global attention to the programmes and initiatives that were launched locally, but in partnership with EU donors.
"The other purpose of the visit is to assess the impact of the project in both villages and to interact with the community members who are direct beneficiaries of the project," she said. "The project is definitely improving the livelihoods of the communities in respect of issues such as domestic violence, sexual assault, HIV and AIDS, future planning, child abuse and human rights."
The TVEP was pleased to learn from the Tshilwavhusiku police that there has been an improvement in how victims understand domestic violence and other related crimes by coming to report them to the police station.
"I have been travelling around Africa, where I visited Mozambique and Zimbabwe before coming to South Africa," she said. "After South Africa, I will be going to Madagascar."
The TVEP's programme director, Mr Tshilidzi Masikhwa, said that the organisation was proud of the impact of the project in the Vhembe region. "We heartily welcome Eleonora and we would like to once again extend our deepest gratitude to our funders in the EU," he said.